Mast cap, anchor light, and Windex

[sailboatmike]

my X is 1995 and it has a cap

[paul I]

You can get a mast cap for your from Dowsar for $10 Canadian. See the link, toward the end of the page.
http://www.dowsar.com/options.htm

[Tomfoolery]

Nice work, Tom! By the way, my mast doesn't have a cap and there are no traces that suggest that it ever did. Was it introduced from a specific model year?

I couldn't say. The 'cap' on mine was just a piece of aluminium plate, with a couple of chicken scratch welds to hold it, one of which was failed, and the other about to. It's visible in the first and second pic, at the top of the first page. It was probably there to hold something, from the threaded holes, but rain would have gotten in past it, so I doubt it was there to stop that. Not that it's a big worry, either - I mostly wanted something to mount the light to, and while I was at it, the Windex base.

You can see the popcorn welds in these shots.



There was an existing hole at about 30 degrees off the centerline, which conveniently was 1/4" in from the end of the mast (1/2" HDPE material), so I just drilled another on the other side.



I took those pics in the fall, right before I tarped the boat, so making a mast cap and such would give me something to do over the winter. But you can see the wonderfully engineered Windex mounting system I employed. Nothing like fender washers, slightly bent screws, and some rigging wire (to keep the Windex base from sliding down the tapered chicken head and putting the machine screw into the backstay connection).

I'm surprised nobody commented on the rusty spacer holding the main halyard block to the mast (5th and 6th pics). Another PO bit of handiwork. Little by little I'm taking things like that apart, treating with Bar Keeper's Friend (oxalic acid) to get rid of the rust stains (works great on the white deck), and replacing with SS bits as required. There were even drywall screws holding the single-gang new-work electrical box with 30A marine shore power breaker onto the interior hull liner, until I ripped it all out for a do-over.

[Tomfoolery]

You can get a mast cap for your from Dowsar for $10 Canadian. See the link, toward the end of the page.
http://www.dowsar.com/options.htm

That cap has a shape different from my mast. I have to wonder if my mast wasn't a replacement, as through discussions here, it seems others have curved masts. Mine has straight (flat) sides, while that one has no flat surface anywhere.

Dowsar's:



Mine:



(Note the thicker wall section at the two sides)

[Cougar]

I have the same straight-sided mast on my '99 Dowsar's drawing may be slightly inaccurate.

[paul I]

Dowsar's drawing may be slightly inaccurate.

I'd have to agree. Although the measurements match, the profiles certainly look different. I can vouch that it fits my perfectly.

[Tomfoolery]

Dowsar's drawing may be slightly inaccurate.

I'd have to agree. Although the measurements match, the profiles certainly look different. I can vouch that it fits my perfectly.

Does your mast have straight sides as in my sketch?

[Tomfoolery]

That mast cap/anchor light/Windex doohickey is sweet, Tom. How do I order one for my boat?

I made it out of scrap. Got any 1/2" Starboard? I'll make you one.

But I'll need to know if your mast is the same as mine, with flat sides.

[BOAT]

[quote="Cougar" The 'cap' on mine was just a piece of aluminium plate, with a couple of chicken scratch welds to hold it,

Is that why they call it a 'Chicken Head'?

[Tomfoolery]

The 'cap' on mine was just a piece of aluminium plate, with a couple of chicken scratch welds to hold it,

Is that why they call it a 'Chicken Head'?

I was thinking more along the lines of the other end of the chicken, but this is a family friendly forum.

[paul I]

Dowsar's drawing may be slightly inaccurate.

I'd have to agree. Although the measurements match, the profiles certainly look different. I can vouch that it fits my perfectly.

Does your mast have straight sides as in my sketch?

As I recall, yes.

[Highlander]

the M mast were made in two sizes 2003-2007 have the thicker mast , the 2008 on they went to a smaller mast dai. mast same shape just slightly smaller for less weight aloft in this pic u can see the mast plug on the left which fits inside the mast after it was cut to size as drawn & notice the one on the right is the cap yet to b cut as drawn u,ll notice it has rounded sides



where as Tom,s mast has the flat sides as he has an X . the & used the same flat sided mast

J

[Highlander]

[quote="Cougar" The 'cap' on mine was just a piece of aluminium plate, with a couple of chicken scratch welds to hold it,

Is that why they call it a 'Chicken Head'?

mark
This is what u,d call a rotating Chicken Head for a rotating mast with backstay on a traveller

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee20 ... 0012-2.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee20 ... 010016.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee20 ... 010017.jpg

J

[Tomfoolery]

I just made another discovery regarding the anchor light - I replaced the standard bulb with a Doctor LED bulb (supposedly USCG 'approved' as a replacement for that unit), and the bulbs are not polarized via the design of the base. The wedge base can be installed in either of two orientations. But the LED will light with power applied in either polarity, seemingly at the same intensity. It probably incorporates a full-wave rectifier of some stripe, which with DC just means that either polarity will bias the actual LEDs correctly regardless of the applied source polarity.

I just thought that was interesting, and good to know. But I am going to have to use a diode for both the masthead (steaming) light and the anchor light, as I'm just using the existing 2-conductor wiring and plug to the mast with a DPDT 'marine' toggle switch at the panel, or at the bottom of the mast on the smoked plastic access cover (haven't decided which location yet.

where as Tom,s mast has the flat sides as he has an X . the & used the same flat sided mast

And a few have chimed in that their mast has flat sides like mine. I don't know where I got the idea that mine was odd, but I think is was from a thread a while back where someone or ones said theirs didn't have flat sides. Maybe that/those mast/s is/are unique then, or were replaced at some point.

I'd be curious to know what the mast section looks like on the 26S and 26D (or are they technically all 26C?) boats.

[BOAT]

I just made another discovery regarding the anchor light - I replaced the standard bulb with a Doctor LED bulb (supposedly USCG 'approved' as a replacement for that unit), and the bulbs are not polarized via the design of the base. The wedge base can be installed in either of two orientations. But the LED will light with power applied in either polarity, seemingly at the same intensity. It probably incorporates a full-wave rectifier of some stripe, which with DC just means that either polarity will bias the actual LEDs correctly regardless of the applied source polarity.

I just thought that was interesting, and good to know. But I am going to have to use a diode for both the masthead (steaming) light and the anchor light, as I'm just using the existing 2-conductor wiring and plug to the mast with a DPDT 'marine' toggle switch at the panel, or at the bottom of the mast on the smoked plastic access cover (haven't decided which location yet.

Thanks Tom, that's good to know - as we all know raw LED circuits are DC and only flow in one direction just like batteries so it means you can switch two LED lights on one circuit by just reversing the polarity. I am in the process of wiring up some instruments on my mast and thought I would add an anchor light while I was at it and replace the bulbs with LED.

Well, I thought I would have enough circuits to do the "Mean Green Sailing Machine" lights you mentioned above but now i see it would require pulling in more copper into the mast than I want because it's all getting too heavy in my mind (the heaviest thing on your mast is the copper wire!) I looked at those LED corn lights replacements for our mast lights and I never dreamed they were unidirectional polarity - that means I need another wire just to get the anchor light! Add to that the wind indicator wires and coax for the radio and this is getting ridiculous.

I need to rethink. . . .

On the masts the M boat (late models) have a rounded mast profile and the early M boats and all X boats have a tapered mast profile with flatter sides then the new mast.